MANILA, Philippines - Air21 and Talk n Text closed a trade deal involving five players as soon as the PBA board, in a meeting yesterday, lifted the trade restrictions between the two teams.
Yancy de Ocampo and Renren Ritualo, FedEx’s prized draft acquisitions in 2002, rejoined the original team while JR Quinahan, Mark Yee and Aaron Aban went to Talk n Text.
This developed as the Lina Group decided to field back Air21 in favor of Burger King, a food chain partly owned by Talk n Text top bossman Manny Pangilinan.
Air21 and Talk n Text, thus, have been re-classified as two teams independent from one another.
De Ocampo and Ritualo, the No. 1 and No. 8 picks in the 2002 Rookie Draft, moved back to Air21 after helping Talk n Text win a second championship in the Philippine Cup last year.
De Ocampo, a 6-foot-8 center out of St. Francis of Assisi College, played five seasons with Talk n Text, having his most productive year in the 2006-07 campaign where he averaged 9.4 points a game.
Ritualo, meanwhile, had been with Talk n Text in the last four and a half seasons. He’d been TnT’s biggest outside threat until the arrival of former La Salle teammate Macmac Cardona.
Talk n Text gave up De Ocampo and Ritualo in exchange for Quinahan, Yee and Aban who are all young hard-nosed players.
Yee, an acquisition from Liga Pilipinas becoming the first player ever from San Sebastian-Cavite to make the PBA, is only in his second year in the majors.
Quinahan, from University of Visayas, is a third-year pro while Aban, from Letran, is in his fourth year. – Nelson Beltran